Understanding Environmentally Significant Behavior in the Garhwal Himalaya, India: An
Exploratory Study of Whitewater and Trekking
Introduction
The region of Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India is revered for its cultural affluence and scenic
wonder. It has been cited as having vast potential for tourism growth. Nature-based tourism,
including eco, adventure, and religious tourism, has been cited as one type of tourism that could
flourish within the state and has been growing steadily in the state for decades (Bisht, 2008).
However, increased nature-based tourism has resulted in environmental impacts that have drawn the
attention of domestic scholars calling for outdoor ethics and environmental education. Implicit
disseminators of such ethics and education, nature-based guides were found to be valuable at
minimizing recreation impacts (Roggenbuck, Williams, & Bobinski, 1992). So far, research has not
detailed Garhwal-based guides’ perception of their responsibility towards minimizing tourism
impacts.
The Significance of Guides
Guides trained in minimal impact skills can play an important role in minimizing
environmentally destructive behavior displayed by their clients (Barker & Roberts, 2004; Littlefair &
Buckley, 2008; Wagstaff & Wilson, 1988). Several ecotourism studies have focused on the natural
resource management role of eco guides (e.g., Black et al., 2001; Haig & McIntyre, 2002; Ormsby &
Mannle, 2006; Peake, Innes, & Dyer, 2009). Currently, there is limited research on this topic in a
context outside of ecotourism and particularly in so-called developing countries where the majority
of the clientele is indigenous (as in the case of Garhwal, India). To address this limitation, it is
important to understand why guides perform environmentally significant individual behavior
(positive and negative). The aim of this study was to examine the cognitive factors that lead
Garhwal-based whitewater and trekking guides’ intention to pack out trash, bury human waste, and
cut living trees for firewood (rather than use alternatives) during the expeditions they work. The
Theory of Planned Behavior (TOPB) was used to help identify those cognitive constructs that have
been shown empirically to predict and explain environmentally significant behavior.
Methods
The study was conducted in the Joshimath, Rishikesh, and Uttarkashi, India in June, 2009.
Questionnaires were administered to 68 whitewater and trekking guides who volunteered to
participate. Guides completed the first part of a 45-question questionnaire that was constructed
following Ajzen’s (2006) Constructing a TPB Questionnaire and incorporated a 5-point semantic
differential scale. The questionnaire measured behavioral intention, attitude, subjective norm,
perceived behavioral control, and past behavior pertaining to packing out trash, burying human
waste, and cutting living trees for firewood. Four-step hierarchical regression analysis was done
separately on each of the three dependent variables (behavioral intentions) to examine those
independent variables (theoretical antecedents) that make the most unique contributions to TOPB in
this context. Attitudes (step 1), subjective norms (step 2), perceived behavioral control (step 3), and
past behavior (step 4) were added to the regression equation to examine their contributions to the
prediction of intention.
Results
The findings of this study suggest that the basic constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior
explained behavioral intentions to perform proenvironmental behavior among nature-based guides in
Garhwal, India. A meta-analysis by Armitage and Conner (2001) found that the average variance of
intentions explained by the three TOPB constructs was 39%. Two of three models tested in this study
performed well above and slightly below this average. The theory’s predictive capabilities waned
regarding intention to bury human waste, however. We posit that certain behaviors considered as
proenvironmental may be under established in Garhwal and a viewed as low priority as resources and
incentives to perform such behavior are limited (Teo & Loosemore, 2001). Further, the unique social
and cultural context, such as religion and the (outlawed) caste system in India, may have influenced
guides’ decisions to execute proenvironmental behavior.
Attitude alone was a strong predictor of intention to perform all three behaviors, suggesting
that the more positive participants attitude, the greater their intentions to engage in low impact
outdoor behaviors. However, the extent of influence of a theoretical antecedent was dependent on the
behavior in question. As other theoretical antecedents were added to the model, the contribution of
attitude to the model dissipated and the influence of other predictors increased.
Conclusions
The instillation and enforcement of a proenvironmental industry norm or performance
standard, increased managerial and colleague commitment and support, increased expertise on the
benefits of proenvironmental behavior in the wilds of Garhwal, and increased availability of
materials (e.g. a shovel) to perform such behaviors appears to be essential to build upon guides’
positive attitudes toward proenvironmental behavior. This research suggests that the implementation
of any standard and related training in Garhwal should be tailored to how whitewater and trekking
guides cognitively and culturally approach the performance of environmentally significant behaviors.
Garhwal-based guides have an opportunity to partake in a community-based resource management
endeavor, where guides are “working with what they have, with what they know, and what they can
do” (Nietschmann, 1997, p. 223) to achieve an outdoor ethic they agree is representative of their
vision and culture. Land managers, such as the Uttarakhand Forest Department, could benefit from a
partnership with guides who practice pro environmental behavior.